
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
25
who stood beside the cross reviling the Saviour. He had seen
and heard Jesus, and had been convicted by His teaching,
but he had been turned away from Him by the priests and
rulers. Seeking to stifle conviction, he had plunged deeper
and deeper into sin,
until he was arrested, tried as a criminal,
and condemned to die on the cross. . . .
"When condemned for his crime, the thief had become
hopeless and despairing; but strange, tender thoughts now
spring up. He calls to mind all he has heard of Jesus, how
He has healed the sick and pardoned sin. He has heard the
words of those who believed in Jesus and followed Him weep-
ing. He has seen and read the title above the Saviour's head.
He has heard the passersby repeat it, some with grieved,
quivering lips, others with jesting and mockery. The Holy
Spirit illuminates his mind, and little by little the chain of
evidence is joined together. In Jesus, bruised, mocked, and
hanging upon the cross, he sees the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sin of the. world. Hope is mingled with anguish
in his voice as the helplesp, dying soul casts himself upon a
dying Saviour. 'Lord, refilember me,' he cries, 'when Thou
comest into Thy kingdom.'
"Quickly the answer came. Soft and melodious the tone,
full of love, compassion, and power the words: Verily I say
unto thee to-day, Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."—"The
Desire of Ages," pages 749, 750.
4.
"In that thick darkness God's presence was hidden. He
makes darkness His pavilion, and conceals His glory from
human eyes. God and His holy angels were beside the cross.
The Father was with His Son. Yet His presence was not
revealed. Had His glory flashed forth from the cloud, every
human beholder would have been destroyed. And in that
dreadful hour, Christ was not to be comforted with the
Father's presence. He trod the winepress alone, and of the
people there was none with Him.
"In the thick darkness, God veiled the last human agony
of His Son. All who had seen Christ in His suffering had
been convicted of His divinity. That face, once beheld by
humanity, was never forgotten. As the face of Cain ex-
pressed his guilt as a murderer, so the face of Christ re-
vealed innocence, serenity, benevolence,— the image of God.
But His accusers would not give heed to the signet of heaven.
Through long hours of agony, Christ had been gazed upon
by the jeering multitude. Now He was mercifully hidden
by the mantle of God."—"The Desire of Ages," pages 753, 754.
5.
"All His life, Christ had been publishing to a fallen
world the good news of the Father's mercy and pardoning
love. Salvation for the chief of sinners was His theme.
But now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He can-
not see the Father's reconciling face. The withdrawal of
the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of